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Gerald Locklin
all the children are gleeful,
except for the ragamuffin whose oval face is shocked,
and her sister, prettier, who is asleep on her shoulder.
all the other children have large open mouths.
her own small mouth is turned down like that occasional
jack-o-lantern one sees.
her eyes are turned down at the corners.
she has caught her breath like a fluttering sparrow.
child, i have seen it too.
it will not go away.
always the others will be wide-mouthed with hysteria
or asleep on our shoulders.
we will go through life looking like pumpkins.
the other kids will say, "how come you always look like a pumpkin?"
and someday even the prettier person asleep on our shoulder
Friday came and the circus was there,
And Mother said that the twins and I
And Charles and Clarence and all of us
Could go out and see the parade go by.
And there were wagons with pictures on,
And you never could guess what they had inside,
Nobody could guess, for the doors were shut,
And there was a dog that a monkey could ride.
A man on the top of a sort of cart
Was clapping his hands and making a talk.
And the elephant came--he can step pretty far--
It made us laugh to see him walk.
Three beautiful ladies came riding by,
And each one had on a golden dress,
And each one had a golden whip.
They were queens of Sheba, I guess.
The white men played all sorts of jokes on me.
They took big fish off my hook
And put little ones on, while I was away
Getting a stringer, and made me believe
I hadn’t seen aright the fish I had caught.
When Burr Robbins circus came to town
They got the ring master to let a tame leopard
Into the ring, and made me believe
I was whipping a wild beast like Samson
When I, for an offer of fifty dollars,
Dragged him out to his cage.
One time I entered my blacksmith shop
And shook as I saw some horse-shoes crawling
Across the floor, as if alive—
Walter Simmons had put a magnet
Under the barrel of water.
I CAME from the country
With flowers,
Larkspur and roses,
Fretted lilies
In their leaves,
And long, cool lavender.
I carried them
From house to house.
And cried them
Down hot streets.
The sun fell
Upon my flowers.
And the dust of the streets
Blew over my basket.
That night
I slept upon the open seats